Tuesday, August 16, 2005

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get...Cooking

I am in a mood tonight.

For a whole lot of reasons. I'm still detoxing from last week's denominational broughaha, and from recent encounters with a few of my coreligionists (they might argue that point) who make me want to throw things, at them. On Monday I was blindsided by an inexplicable episode of one-sided intergenerational friction here at Cold Comfort Cottage; always delightful to come home to. I am worried about a number of people I care about, who are laboring under some heavy burdens. I have been biting my nails over some event planning at work, as well as the definite possibility that my stable of volunteer drivers, a vital part of our agency staff -- many of whom are retirees on fixed incomes -- will quit en masse if gasoline prices go any higher. The news is getting me down, not only the various worldwide geopolitical messes but even fluff like the fahion and marketing world's misogynistic hand-wringing over Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty .(My God, the horror of gazing upon real women's un-airbrushed bodies!...you poor, poor boy, Seth. Shield your eyes, if you must.) Oh, and there was this little news nugget adding to my sense that the jerks of the world are winning, and everyone else is just giving up. And I am feeling, in general, if you haven't already kind of picked up on this, stressed/distressed/oppressed/unloved/unappreciated/pissed.

I figure I'm allotted a certain number of pissed-off days per year, so I'm giving myself over to my current pissed-off-ness -- "Whatever you do, do it will all your might." Well, all right then, dammit.

I just got done putting a pot roast in my crock pot...a couple of pieces of forgotten chuck steak (the unlikely precipitating factors of our domestic rowdy-dow...don't even ask)at the back of the freezer, thawed and browned and added to some vegetables, seasoned broth and some snippets of herbs from my planter. In the meantime, I cooked up some fresh green beans from a local market -- oooh, baby, they are so good; their taste recollects the scent of the bean blossoms -- and made them into an old-fashioned three-bean salad, spiffed up a little with wine vinegar, olive oil and a dash of Dijon mustard. Some crusty rolls from the bakery, and I think we'll call this a meal.

Tomorrow we feast. I wish I could invite you all. I wish I could invite the Dove women, too -- a little pot roast once in awhile is good maintenance for womanly curves. Cherchez les femmes.

Revmom: Considering that I have just activated Phase One -- Roger that -- of Operation Yard Sale Cookie Monster -- I should be in the midst of Teresa-of-Avila-esque ecstatic experience by this time next week, as piles of bar cookies arise around me.;-)

Meanwhile...I'm so happy...I found a place, in the city where I work one day a week (we have satellite offices in our service area), that sells organic beef, chicken and eggs from the owners' farm. Ironically, it's a short distance from our office...I've been within walking range for the past two years and didn't know about it. You walk in and ask about the organic meat, and they take you 'round back to the fridge/freezer. My personal campaign to "think globally, eat locally" scores another win!

Charlotte: This outfit makes me feel like I'm in a speakeasy...you go to the counter, say something like, "Pssst...this where I can score an organic chicken?", then they go to a back room...it's all on the up-and-up; they have a flyer; but it's just amusing.

Re eating out: Had a great time eating Indian last weekend...I love Greek food too, and someone told me about a Greek restaurant in the nearest "big" (not really) city...I think that's our next restaurant road trip.

J.C. You will note that I didn't even address that story in detail...I can't think about it without wanting to commit major slappage; actually, when it comes to the husbands/boyfriends egging these women on, and the surgeons selling these services, I'd like to perform some amateur plastic surgery on their nether regions.:P And you just want to do an intervention with these women...."Woman, you get some plastic surgery down there! You're ugly! You don't look like the girls in my porn!" "Oh -- okey-dokey, honey!" And they think we're the deviant ones...